Things I’ve Learned: Jonathan Meiburg

16 years in Austin | Founder and frontman of Shearwater

By Sarah Thurmond | Photo by George Brainard

Published: February 29, 2016

For 16 years, Jonathan Meiburg has been a fixture on the city’s music scene, either as a member of Okkervil River or as the founder of Shearwater, which put out its latest album, Jet Plane and Oxbow, in January. But Meiburg, 40, who splits his time between Austin and New York City, is also an expert birder. His book about the striated caracara is due to be published by Knopf in 2018.

On father knowing best
My dad works for the Environmental Protection Agency, so I grew up a kid of a civil servant, one of those horrible bureaucrats that everybody’s always complaining about. It gave me interesting insight into the way the government works and how it’s full of ordinary people trying to do a good job most of the time. It’s such a punching bag, but I’m just not convinced.

On practice making perfect
I started teaching myself guitar when I was 14. My dad had a bunch of old Simon and Garfunkel albums, and that’s actually a great way to learn guitar because the parts are thoughtful and musical but not too difficult. Then I spent a lot of time copying Pink Floyd guitar solos, note by note. When I was 16, that’s all I did. I still use those skills.

On his life’s most significant moment I got a fellowship after graduating from Sewanee. My project was the study of community life at the ends of the earth. I went to remote places around the world for a year, like Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands and an Inuit settlement in the Arctic. I came back with a blown mind. That’s when I moved to Austin.

On traveling the world
It’s almost a secret—that not everything is known and even less is written about. When you’re growing up, you don’t necessarily get that idea because in school they’re telling you everything that everybody knows. But there’s a great deal to learn about the world still.

On making a living as a musicianPeople give you points for it and often will help you in ways that they wouldn’t otherwise. Musicians are a little bit disreputable and scary, but on the other hand, people really believe that they ought to exist. They just don’t want you to date their daughter.

On his favorite place in Austin
The Hornsby Bend sewage treatment plant is one of the coolest places in town. It’s amazing because it’s an incredible wildlife habitat and stopover for migratory birds. It’s one of the great places, not just in Texas, but in the United States, to see and learn about birds.

On what our feathered friends teach usBirds can reveal to you a world that’s parallel to yours and that has always been here but you don’t see. The act of looking at them and learning about their lives opens the world to you. It takes you outside of yourself.

On why he’s avoiding political news
The 24-hour news cycle is like fast food: You can have it once in a while, but don’t binge on it. If we had the 24-hour news cycle during World War II, we would have thought the world was coming to an end every day.

On helping out musicians
I sometimes tell our fans, “If you’re thinking about buying the record, buy it the week it comes out or preorder it, because first week sales have this power for bookers. If you want to help a band at the show, buy their T-shirt. They’re probably making more money on that than anything else.”

On the future of AustinIn a way, Austin is symptomatic of what’s happening in the country and this bifurcation that we keep seeing in it, with an overclass and an underclass. Austin seems to be becoming an enclave of the overclass. I worry about it becoming sort of part of a series of bubbles that don’t intersect with the rest of the country in a meaningful way.